Pere Goriot & Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life
In his series of novels intended to be the Human Comedy, Honore de Balzac repeats characters. One such character is introduced in Pere Goriot (Father Goriot), a criminal without redemption, Vautrin. However, when we read Scenes From A Courtesan’s Life, we see that Vautrin is no longer a murderous criminal but is instead the respected head of the Surrete in Paris, Jacques Collin. In one way this transformation represents social satire, since we basically see the chief of criminals elevated to the chief of police between the two works. Yet Balzac is able to make such a transformation because of the way he understands human nature. He recognizes that good and evil resides in all individuals and, as such, he invests Vautrin and Collin with a morality and worldview that might be interpreted as a license to act good or evil. For instance, Vautrin tries to seduce Eugene into murdering so that he can get his hands on part of the fortune of the victim’s intended wife. As Vautrin expresses, “...you have to dirty your hands if you want to live well. The only thing that matters is to know how to get them clean again; in that art lies the whole morality of our times” (Balzac 1289).
Yet Balzac is also able to make such a transformation of character between the two novels because in Father Goriot Vautrin is in disguise. Literally the master criminal we come to know is an illusion, a sham, someone who does not exist as we think he does. At the end of the novel when Vautrin is apprehended by police at the boarding house, we are taken aback by his red hair, tattoos, and unseemly body. When we turn to Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life, we see that the manipulative advice on morality given to Eugene by Vautrin in Father Goriot is similar to the morality espoused by Jacques Collin. We see that Jacques is also a character who some people think is a sham, another in disguise. As
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